Greenville Ave News

Cafe Duro wine & coffee bar brings Euro charm to Dallas' Greenville Ave

Espresso in the morning, wine in the evening.

Photo by Julie Soefer

There's a cosmopolitan new market-coffeeshop-wine bar open on Greenville Avenue: Called Cafe Duro, it's from Duro Hospitality, whose portfolio includes beloved restaurants The Charles, Bar Charles, and Sister, and is open at 2804 Greenville Ave., conveniently adjacent to its sibling restaurant Sister.

According to a release, Cafe Duro is conceived as a unique coffee and wine bar that will add charm and character to the neighborhood, serving as a classic European-style street café with a traditional Italian-ish walk-up espresso counter, standing bar tops, and window seating.

They also offer intriguing foodstuffs, for dine-in or to go: from Italian panini to house-made pastries, plus pasta, sauces, or a bottle of wine.

And they have long hours: Sip an espresso or an Aperol Spritz and enjoy a pizzetta on the patio daily from 7 am-10 pm.

Menu highlights include:

• Mia Nonna Sausage Kolache
• Pickled Blueberry Danish
• Olive Oil Coffee Cake
• Meatball and Jalapeño Breakfast Polenta Cup
• Mortadella Muffaletta
• Vegan Artichoke Panini
• Pepperoni and Brunt Honey Pizzetta

Café Duro's design was inspired by Renzo Mongiardino's design of Ristorante da Giacomo, evoking an early 20th-century Lombard trattoria, and features Sees Design's custom wallpaper and design elements.

Even the most culturally oblivious surely know that Ristorante da Giacomo is the fabled restaurant in Milan which Mongiardino designed for owner Giacomo Bulleri in 1989. I mean, come on. OK I had to look it up. Vogue describes it as "an elegant study in Belle Epoque elegance, with milky green Anaglypta walls and flattering amber and alabaster lights." Vogue says the restaurant has become "a reliably delicious backdrop to local and visiting aesthetes and fashionistas," which will undoubtedly be the case for Cafe Duro in Dallas, as well.

Founded in 2020, Duro Hospitality has had a stellar run, opening two acclaimed restaurants: The Charle, their chic restaurant in Dallas' Design District; and Sister, their Italian-Mediterranean restaurant that opened in the space that was previously home to iconic restaurant The Grape.

Since The Charles opened in 2018, it has earned accolades for its doting service, stunning decor, and fabulous food, including winning CultureMap's Tastemaker Award in 2020 for Best Restaurant of the Year.

Sister was nominated for a Tastemaker Award for Best New Restaurant in 2022, and also for Best Wine Program, which seems like a fitting extension of The Grape's good reputation as a wine destination.

Cafe Duro sits in a small, charming storefront with a wine background of its own: Back in the '90s, it was home to Stoney's Fine Wines & Market, the wine shop from "Stoney" and Diane Savage, one of Dallas' longest-running wine shops, now located at 6038 Oram St.

In a statement, See's Design partner Benji Homsey says that 2022 is proving to be a big year for Duro Hospitality, a hospitality firm he founded with partners Chas Martin, Corbin See, and Ross See, specializing in operations, concepting, development, and design focused of restaurants, bars, hotels, and multi-family projects.

"The opening of Café Duro marks the rapid expansion of our footprint in Dallas," Homsey says. "We strive to be thoughtful and intentional in the way guests experience Café Duro. Our Greenville Avenue concepts are unlike any others in Dallas; we're proud to break the mold and are looking forward to seeing Dallasites' reaction to our vision."

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Pizza News

Yonx Pizza seduces north Dallas suburbs with New York-style pies

Yonx

Yonx Pizza, by the slice.

A pizzeria with a dedicated following has debuted in Melissa: Yonx Pizza Bar & Co., an indie spot that does New York-style pizzas as well as pizza by the slice, has opened a location at 1521 McKinney St. #700 — an address that had pizza history as it was home for nearly a decade to a Palio's Pizza, which closed in 2025.

Yonx is from Robert Hede, a restaurant veteran who was previously involved with the Village Burger Bar chain, where he was a partner. He switched from burgers to pizza in 2022 when he connected with NY Pizza and Pints, a small local pizzeria chain, opening a location in Wylie at 1125 FM 544 #800. After two years, he broke off from the chain to found Yonx at the same address.

Yonx does the kind of New York-style thin-crust pizza that Dallas-Fort Worth loves, in a standard 14-inch, as well as a massive 24-inch "Kong" size. They also do slices, which can be ordered as a lunch with a Caesar salad for $9.99.

Varieties include familiar favorites like pepperoni, as well as slightly gourmet options with New York-inspired names such as:

Balsamic on Bleeker St., with garlic sauce, mushrooms, shaved ribeye, mozzarella cheese, arugula, and balsamic drizzle
Bronx Bomb, with Sicilian marinara, mozzarella, meatballs, mushrooms, and ricotta cheese
Brooklyn, basically a meat-lovers with Sicilian marinara, mozzarella, sliced ham, chopped meatball, beef, & pepperoni
Greenwich Garden, a vegetarian with Sicilian marinara, mozzarella, red & green bell peppers, white onions, mushrooms, spinach, & black olives

Prices range from $16 for a 14-inch cheese pizza to $46 for a NY Giant Supreme Soho with Sicilian marinara, mozzarella, pepperoni, sausage, beef, red & green bell peppers, white onions, sliced mushrooms, & black olives.

Yonx Pizza soup in a bread bowl.Photo courtesy of Yonx

There are also sandwiches on house-made toasted focaccia such as the Italian tower with melted provolone cheese, sliced ham, salami, lettuce, red onion, pepperoncinis, & sundried tomato aioli.

Appetizers include comforting soups served in a bread bowl including tomato basil and jalapeno cream soup with charred jalapenos. Plus wings, garlic knots, and "Brooklyn Ballers" — their signature meatballs in marinara, made in-house. topped with whipped ricotta and Parmesan, served with pesto and focaccia ends.

A full bar features frozen margaritas and frozen mojitos made with agave gold tequila. The best day to order those is "Frozen Fridays" from 11 am-10:30 pm when the blueberry mojitos are $6 and the margaritas are $5.

The Melissa location opened in January, with the same menu as the Wylie original, and has been met with an unprecedented wave of positive reviews on Facebook: one comment after another raving over how great the pizza is, and what a godsend it is — positive reviews that began to stack up even before the place had officially opened, the likes of which have been rarely seen.

This location boasts almost double the size of the original in Wylie, with a covered patio where they'll host live music on the weekends outside.

Hede, who has been hands-on at the Melissa location since it opened, says he's all-in on these northernmost suburbs of Dallas.

"I like this area — I feel like all the growth is heading out in this direction, there's just a lot of activity up here," he says.

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